Michelin Bibendum Building

I had the pleasure of seeing the Michelin Bibendum building for the first time a few weeks ago. It's a fantastic piece of architecture designed by Francois Espinasse - a Michelin employee at the time, who wasn't even a trained architect.

The building sits at 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London. It first opened in 1911 and over it's early years served as the company's general sales office, a tyre fitting centre, warehouse, distribution centre and in the 1950's, Michelin's UK commercial headquarters.

"A truly unique building that incorporated design ideas that anticipated the Art Deco movement 10 years later. It was the first building in London to use reinforced concrete in its
construction and its distinctive style was never copied, leaving Michelin House a totally unique building."

These days this magnificent building houses the Bibendum Restaurant, the Oyster Bar, the Crustacea Stall, a forecourt café and The Conran Shop. After being bought in 1985 by Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn who had the full building restored and all the original features put back to their former glory.

It really is well worth a visit, but if you can't see it in person there's more info here.

Before and after images copyright Bibendum.